Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Medicaid Expansion in PA: What Happens Now?

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s Healthy Pennsylvania program calls for the state to expand its Medicaid program on January 1 through a private insurance market option in which people choose private insurance plans through which to receive the Medicaid benefits for which they are newly eligible.
But Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Wolf wants to expand the state’s traditional Medicaid program and not employ the private insurance market coverage.
Governor Corbett will still be in office when his program is set to take effect on January 1, 2015. Mr. Wolf will not take the oath of office until January 20.
The Philadelphia Inquirer takes a look at how Pennsylvania’s private insurance market option came about and what may happen next. See its story here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-11-14T06:00:22+00:00November 14th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s October Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has released its October newsletter.
It includes articles about Healthy Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion and its impact on behavioral health benefits; about letters the state is sending to current Medicaid recipients about changes in their benefits; and about letters from the federal government to those enrolled in federal marketplace plans reminding them that they need to renew their health insurance.
The newsletter also features an article about how the state will address those currently enrolled in federal marketplace plans who will become eligible for Medicaid on January 1.
Find the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s newsletter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-11-13T06:00:55+00:00November 13th, 2014|Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Makes Healthy PA Implementation Official

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has published an official notice in the state’s Medical Assistance Bulletin announcing the implementation of the Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion program on January 1, 2015.
The notice provides background information about the plan, how it will work, and how it will differ from the state’s current Medicaid program. It also presents the final word on how the state will define “medically frail” for determining which benefits package participants will receive, outlines how the program’s health screening of applicants will work, and explains enrollees’ cost-sharing responsibilities.
The Bulletin notes that the state will issue a separate announcement to providers with more information about the scope of benefits to be provided, how the program will employ private insurers to serve the state’s Medicaid population, and when training will be offered to familiarize providers on how to work with the new program.
Find the Bulletin here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-11-05T06:00:17+00:00November 5th, 2014|Healthy PA, Medical Assistance Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

PA Closing in on Classification Criteria for New Medicaid Recipients

Among the features of Pennsylvania’s “Healthy Pennsylvania” Medicaid expansion program is the consolidation of 14 current adult benefits packages into just two packages: the “Healthy” package for new recipients considered low-risk patients and the “Healthy Plus” package for those who are considered high-risk patients, or medically frail.
But ever since the Corbett administration unveiled its Medicaid expansion plan last fall, the question of how new recipients would be evaluated to determine which benefit package they will receive has remained unanswered.
Now, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) appears to be getting closer to providing a clear answer.
Recently, DPW’s Medical Assistance Advisory Committee (MAAC) circulated three working documents that present the state’s latest thinking on the classification process.
The first document presents an overview of the latest version of state’s screening tool, including what the tool is, how it defines “medically frail,” and how it will be used. It also notes that use of the tool is not mandatory.
This next document offers additional information about how the state envisions defining “medically frail.”
And this third document is a draft of the screening tool itself, the health care needs questionnaire.
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2015, but people who think they may be eligible may begin enrolling on December 1 through the state’s enrollment web site or at any state county assistance office.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-31T06:00:57+00:00October 31st, 2014|Healthy PA|Comments Off

Some PA Women Could Lose State Medical Benefits

The expiration of a state health program could leave about 90,000 low-income Pennsylvania women without the free family planning and women’s health benefits they currently receive.
A program called SelectPlan for Women offers limited health benefits to low-income women between the ages of 18 and 44 who are otherwise ineligible for Medicaid. While there has been no formal announcement of the program’s termination, women’s health advocates have informally been told that such a termination is possible at the end of the year.
If the program expires, some of the women it currently covers will be eligible for Medicaid under the state’s Medicaid expansion to take effect on January 1 while others should be eligible for at least some subsidization of insurance premiums on the federal health insurance exchange.
The SelectPlan for Women, however, has no limits on visits, no co-pays, and no premiums.
Learn more about SelectPlan for Women, what it does, and why it may soon disappear in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-30T06:00:59+00:00October 30th, 2014|Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

The Candidates Talk Health Care

One of the issues in almost any major election is health care, and this year’s gubernatorial race in Pennsylvania is no exception.
With this in mind, the Central Penn Business Journal has published excerpts of Pennsylvania Physician magazine interviews with the candidates in next month’s election, Republican Governor Tom Corbett and his Democratic challenger, Tom Wolf. In the article, the candidates share their views on some of this year’s more important health care issues, including Medicaid expansion, emergency care, the challenge of attracting more doctors to Pennsylvania, and more.
Find the article here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-28T06:00:19+00:00October 28th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

New Video Explains PA Medicaid Expansion

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has posted a new presentation video on its Healthy Pennsylvania Medicaid expansion program. The video outlines how the program works, who is eligible to participate, what the benefits are, and more. It offers useful information for hospital employees and other Pennsylvania health care providers who will soon see an influx of as many as 600,000 new Medicaid recipients in the state.
Find the video here, on the state’s Healthy PA web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-24T06:00:48+00:00October 24th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Increased Utilization by New Medicaid Patients Levels Off, Study Finds

Spikes in hospital emergency room and inpatient admissions attributed to patients who have recently obtained Medicaid coverage eventually taper off, according to a new study.
According to the study Increased Service Use Following Medicaid Expansion is Mostly Temporary: Evidence From California’s Low Income Health Program, dramatic increases in ER use and hospitalizations among those newly insured by Medicaid eventually level off and should not especially tax either hospital capacity or state Medicaid budgets.
The study, performed by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, found that after pent-up demand for care among those who previously had limited access to services was satisfied, utilization dropped by more than two-thirds and then remained relatively constant. Outpatient utilization remains generally stable, the study found.
These findings may be a glimpse into Pennsylvania’s future and what its hospitals will face when the state eventually expands its Medicaid program.
For further information about the study and its implications for hospitals and state Medicaid budgets, see this Kaiser Health News report. To see the UCLA study itself, go here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-16T11:53:50+00:00October 16th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Insurers Struggle to Find Providers to Participate in Healthy PA Medicaid Expansion

The insurers selected to participate in Pennsylvania’s Healthy PA Medicaid expansion program are having a hard time persuading hospitals and doctors to join their provider networks.
Citing low Medicaid reimbursement rates, providers have been reluctant to work with the chosen insurers.
The state selected nine insurers to offer Medicaid coverage to approximately 600,000 new recipients beginning on January 1, but now, one of those insurers has withdrawn from the program and another is considering reducing the geographic region it intends to serve.
Originally, the Corbett administration said it hoped to have at least three insurance options in each of the nine regions created for the Medicaid expansion program. Now, it appears that two carriers per region is a more realistic expectation.
Read more about the challenges insurers are encountering in lining up participating providers, and how that problem could affect the overall Medicaid expansion effort, in this Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-10-10T06:00:53+00:00October 10th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Health care reform, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

GAO Questions Cost of Private Market Medicaid Expansion

Permitting states to use Medicaid money to enable newly eligible Medicaid recipients to purchase health insurance on the private market may cost more than expansion of traditional state Medicaid programs.
Or so says the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Writing in response to a request from the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee to look at the approved federal waiver that will permit Arkansas to expand its Medicaid program through the purchase of private insurance for newly eligible recipients, the GAO concluded that the federal government may spend $778 million more over three years on such an approach than it would have spent if the state had expanded its traditional Medicaid program.
The GAO said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not perform a budget-neutrality calculation, which would have revealed the increased cost, instead accepting the state’s alternative methodology for determining cost-effectiveness.
Arkansas officials rejected the GAO’s conclusions, asserting that newly eligible Medicaid recipients would have been unable to find providers willing to serve them under a traditional Medicaid expansion.
GAO concluded that CMS may be approving waivers that are not budget-neutral. CMS disagreed with this conclusion.
The GAO letter, written before HHS granted Pennsylvania its Medicaid waiver, specifically mentions Pennsylvania as another state seeking to expand its Medicaid program through the purchase of private insurance for newly eligible Medicaid recipients.
Learn more about the GAO analysis, why it was undertaken, and what it found by reading the GAO letter to the two members of Congress who requested the analysis.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-09-16T06:00:21+00:00September 16th, 2014|Affordable Care Act, Healthy PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

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